“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” - George W. Bush

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel, and the U.S.

US and Iran are Indirectly Coordinating Efforts against IS

The idea of Iran as partner of the US in the battle against IS will not have sufficient political support in Iran, among the allies, or domestically, says Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council - October 13, 14

Bio

Trita Parsi was born in Iran and grew up in Sweden. He earned a Master's Degree in International Relations at Uppsala University, a second Master's Degree in Economics at Stockholm School of Economics and a PhD in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University SAIS. He has served as an adviser to Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH18) on Middle East issues and is a co-founder and current President of the National Iranian American Council (www.niacouncil.org). Dr. Parsi is the author of Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States (Yale University Press, 2007). He has followed Middle East politics for more than a decade, both through work in the field, and through extensive experience on Capitol Hill and the United Nations.

Many of the Middle East experts that we speak to at The Real News, such as Phyllis Bennis, Hamid Dabashi, Vijay Prashad, have all said that the war against Islamic State is going to be a dismal failure. The only thing that might work in the region is a regional political solution that takes into account all of the key players, including Iran.

Now joining us to talk about the role that Iran in the region is playing is Trita Parsi. Trita Parsi is the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel, and the U.S., and he's the president of the National Iranian American Council.

Thank you so much for joining us, Trita.

TRITA PARSI, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Thank you for having me.

PERIES: Trita, the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in his remarks at the UN last month, opened the door to the collaboration in the fight against IS. We also know that the Iranian foreign minister and the Saudi foreign ministers both met, and they declared on September 21 that this is the first page of a new chapter in their relations. Do you think that is so?

PARSI: I think it's too early to tell if there really is a new chapter. I think ithere is a desire in many different places to see a different relationship, a different dynamic between Saudi Arabia and Iran, because the conflict between the two, the rivalry between the two has fueled many of these other conflicts. So, for instance, the Saudis have been very active in promoting various jihadist groups in Syria, in Iraq, and elsewhere, mainly as a buffer against Iran. And because those areas have ended up becoming areas of competition between the two, we've seen how this proxy war between them has ravaged and destroyed many countries in the process.

Now, is this meeting between the two foreign ministers just a sign that they both realize that this is going a bit too far at this moment and that it's getting too dangerous and is actually becoming a threat to themselves? Or is it just a tactical reduction of hostilities for now, but does not have much more of a strategic dimension to it? It is too early to tell whether that is the case or not. But clearly it's going to be very difficult to resolve any of the conflicts in the region unless the Saudis and the Iranians manage to find a way to work together.

PERIES: And the current negotiations that are underway on the nuclear agreement with Iran, do you think that is helping or hindering the possible talks that might happen in the region?

PARSI: It should help, but I think in reality, in the case of Saudi Arabia, the fact that the negotiations have been going on, the fact that much of the real negotiations were taking place in secret in Oman and the Saudis were not aware of it, has just fueled their suspicion and their fear that if there is a successful nuclear agreement, the Iranians would be recognized by the United States as a major power in the region, and that their power ambitions would be legitimized and accepted by the United States. That has fueled what I would call Saudi panic for the last couple of months, in which there's been a lot of drastic measures, most of them completely counterproductive, that the Saudis have engaged in.

But I think ultimately the Saudis should not be fearing a nuclear deal. Ultimately that's going to make the region more secure, and the Saudis and the Iranians essentially have to come to terms that both of them are there to stay and they have to find a way to work with each other, rather than having this almost existential rivalry between the two.

PERIES: The Iranians are supporting the Iraqi militia to fight the IS in Iraq. Assuming that this is a given, what effect will this have in terms of the coalition's fight against the IS?

PARSI: Well, I think the coalition, many of the coalition members are joining this coalition in the hope that afterwards the United States will continue a military engagement in Syria in order to take out the Assad regime as well. The Iranians are outside of the coalition. They're probably doing more to fight ISIS on their own, but they're doing so outside of the coalition, not accepting that the coalition would enter Syrian territory without the approval of the Syrian government, whereas in Iraq, the U.S. is working in tandem with the Iraqi government.

But I think the Iranians have also tried to keep a bit of a low profile, let the Kurds be at the forefront of this, because they want to take away as much as possible the sectarian angle out of this conflict, if the Iranians were very visible in this fight, that this would give credence to the idea, the false notion, that this is a sectarian war being fought. The Iranians are trying to reduce that element. And keeping a lower profile, working more behind the scenes, is a helpful element in their calculation then.

PERIES: And do you think this will lead to some sort of discussion, negotiation, joint effort in terms of fighting the IS?

PARSI: The United States and Iran are already indirectly, at a minimum, coordinating efforts, because the U.S. is coordinating with the Iraqis and the Iranians are coordinated with the Iraqis. Both sides seem to prefer to keep this unofficial rather than to make it public for various reasons.

PERIES: Such as?

PARSI: Well, from the Iranian side, they don't want to be seen as becoming a partner with the United States at this point. They may share common interests, but the idea of Iran being seen as an an ally or a partner of the United States is not something that has sufficient political support in Iran.

From the U.S. side, there are numerous reasons, including the fact that if the Iranians were to be part of the coalition, there's a risk that some of the Sunni states would walk out. The Saudis have made that threat themselves. And beyond that, the Iranians were needed in order to get rid of the Maliki government. But now the U.S. calculation is that there is a need for a Sunni component to the coalition in order to be able to defeat ISIS in Syria. And there's also the domestic political consideration of not having the U.S. and Iran suddenly being on the same side very overtly in this conflict, because that could have domestic political ramifications for the president just weeks away from crucial midterm elections.

PERIES: Right. And what are the indicators that the Iranians will be able to live with a Syria that is not led by Assad?

PARSI: There's no clear indications yet that that is something that they're going to agree with. But I think the red line is not Assad is much as it is the Syrian state. They don't want to see the Syrian state completely collapse. They believe that that's the worst outcome, because then you're going to have yet another failed state in the region that will be very prime target for IS, al-Qaeda, and other jihadist movements. So there seems to be a theoretical openness to having a solution without Assad, as long as the Syrian state structure remains in place. That may not be sufficient for some of the other coalition members, who want to see a complete change of the regime, meaning it's not just enough for Assad to leave; the entire Alawite elite needs to believe--believing as well.

64 comments:

Experts Defy the CDC on Ebola October 14, 2014 "We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles..." More

October 14, 2014Experts Defy the CDC on EbolaBy Sally Zelikovsky

Apparently, as far back as September 17, two experts on the transmission of infectious diseases published a commentary at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota that flies in the face of what the CDC has communicated to the public about the transmission of the Ebola virus.

Although the focus of the commentary is on the proper type of personal protective equipment for health care workers, the authors – both professors at the University of Illinois at Chicago – had these observations to share:

We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks....

[V]irus-laden bodily fluids may be aerosolized and inhaled while a person is in proximity to an infectious person and that a wide range of particle sizes can be inhaled and deposited throughout the respiratory tract….

For Ebola and other filoviruses, however, there is much less information and research on disease transmission and survival, especially in healthcare settings [as compared to MERS and SARS].

Being at first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, we are now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings.

How prescient their research in light of the nurse in Texas. If I were Drs. Frieden and Fauci, I’d be worried that these two gals might snatch my job away. Their research appears to be serious, pure in its motives, and non-political, whereas Frieden and Fauci seem to have an "Ebola Shmebola" attitude. It makes one wonder how much of a role politics is playing in their handling of the virus, or if it could just be that their blind faith in protocols that are clearly out of line with the latest research is misplaced and a failure.

It’s time we had some competence at the helm of the Ebola scandal. Maybe then we could have some confidence in what public health officials are telling us about the communicability of Ebola. I vote for Lisa M. Brosseau, Sc.D. and Rachael Jones, Ph.D.

I don’t get this. No matter how in the dumps the president’s numbers are, you can say, “Yes, I voted for the man elected to represent my party by my fellow Democrats. I think he is a good man who’s faced extraordinary troubles brought on by [insert Bush insult here]. But, yes, I’ve had differences with the President. I was a Clinton primary voter as many of you were. This is the process, and I think we’ve all voted for someone with whom we don’t necessarily agree all the time. We Kentuckians are so independent of spirit, it’d be mighty hard to find that person, wouldn’t it? I know y’all hear me! I look forward to taking that independent spirit with me to the Senate because the most important votes I’ll ever cast, should you entrust me with that privilege, will be for the people of Kentucky.”

Done and done. She’d take a tiny bit of heat for it, but it’s not like anyone doesn’t already know she voted for Obama.....

...since we are relying on expert testimony... It must be true!!!!!! Jooos are buying Muslim women! These Muslim women will be used to colonize Mars. Those who have read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion will know that Mars is the real target of Jooooish strategy.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-sold-Muslim-women-to-Jews-Kuwaiti-cleric-charges-378834The coalition to fight ISIS is a fraud and ISIS is selling Muslim women to Jews, according to Imam Saleh Jawhar.

Tell u, allen, is Saleh Hawhar as reliable a source as the Hamas spokesman that said that there were 'weapons' stored in schools and hospitals, even while there were no secondary explosions when the Israeli bombed them?

Should we only find the Muslims to be a reliable source when they confirm your 'feelings' or storyline?Or should we 'know' they always are lying, like the Zionists?

After action reports, those military and intelligence analysts put together after any conflict, have revealed two vital facts:

Hamas is able to build, secure and launch missiles with impunity, indicating advanced knowledge of Israeli air and combined arms operations and a strong counter-intelligence capability.

Israel has, on the other hand, in the face of abject failure to address Hamas’ advances, resorted to terror bombing of civilian targets, a sign of both impotence and rage.

Unlike previous conflicts between Hamas and Israel, there is no evidence Israel was able to locate Hamas’ sites early in the conflict and indications, as the conflict progressed, that Israel no longer even tried.

During earlier conflicts, whenever a rocket site, be it assembly, storage or launch was hit, the secondary explosions resembled “the 4th of July.” The first sign that Netanyahu had lost “his war” is the lack of secondary explosions. There was no “precision,” no plan, not according to any rules of war. Netanyahu ordered a terror campaign and it was Netanyahu that held the people of Gaza hostage, not Hamas.

First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2014/10/06/gaza-after-action-no-rockets-in-schools/

Several days ago, a sandy-haired United Nations spokesman named Christopher Gunness had a moment when, as he explains it, “words cracked under the burden of meaning.”“The rights of Palestinians — even their children — are wholesale denied,” he told the news station. “And it’s appalling.”

UNRWA discovered rocket caches of unknown provenance in three of its schools.

Jack HawkinsTue Oct 14, 07:18:00 AM EDTNow, if either of the Zionists ahve a quote that would substantiate their claims.The phone number and name of that FBI contact ...

They can fee free to post 'em.But they won't, because they can't.

Their fiction is baseless, nameless and feckless

But YOU admitted you spoke with the agent at the AZ FBI and SAW the report I filed against you. Infact you bragged that you saw the ongoing National Security Investigation on me...

You were the one that bragged you didn't care if you outed your confidential source at the AZ FBI, even if they got fired for releasing on going information on an ongoing investigation. Me? I don't out AZ FBI names on the blog, that's what you do.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.